UNESCO’s Rebuff to BHP Billiton | Forest Society

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The threat to protected areas was sufficiently acute to have prompted a rare official intervention from the usually apolitical UNESCO Asia Pacific office in Jakarta (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

UNESCO’s letter appealed to Indonesian parliamentary committees considering government plans to mine in protected areas, with specific reference to tiny Gag Island in West Papua where BHP Billiton planned to build the biggest nickel mine in the world and dump mine waste into the sea.

The letter explained that an International Workshop in Hanoi in February 2002 chose the Raja Ampat archipelago including Gag Island as one of seven sites to consider for World Heritage listing from a field of 25 potential sites in Southeast Asia.

The extraordinary biodiversity findings in the Raja Ampat/Gag area listed 505 species of coral, which is an extraordinary 64% of all known coral species in the world. In addition, scientific findings also listed 1,065 fish species – amongst the highest fish diversity in the world. UNESCO’s intervention was a blow to BHP Billiton’s lobbying to overturn protected forest status.

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International Civil Society, academics spoke out for forests turning the tables on hypocritical foreign government pressure asking the Indonesian government to weaken protected areas. Over 1,100 letters arrived from individuals and organizations in 43 countries in support of forest protection.

Apart from groups of renown such as the Sierra Club and the Orangutan Foundation, other letters addressed to Indonesian President Megawati include testimonials such as this from Beth Partin, who heard of US mining company Newmont’s push to expand into Indonesia’s protected forests: “I live near Denver, Colorado where Newmont is based. In Colorado, we live every day with the damage caused by mining, for example, the Alamosa River was poisoned more than a decade ago by a cyanide leak and after years of cleanup is only beginning to show signs of life.”

Around 6,000 sets of three postcards addressed to each of the House of Representatives, the Forestry Department and the Minister for Mineral Energy and Resources had been signed and sent by ordinary Indonesians as an expression of support for existing environment protections against mining.

Student environmentalists staged protests at the Australian Embassy in anger at Australia and other foreign government lobbying on behalf of mining companies. Protests were held at the House of Representatives and the Forestry Department.

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The Students’ actions were supported by statements opposing mining issued by groups of academics including a declaration of opposition to mining in protected areas issued on 3 July 2003 by heads of forestry education at five prestigious universities: Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Gajah Mada University, Mulawarman University, Hasanuddin University and Lampung University. Students and academics highlighted the total economic contribution made by sustainable forestry and environment protection, which according to Indonesia’s national budget, outweighed that of mining, with much more potential untapped.